NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

[Redfairen]

Source: Washington Post

The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable.

The records feed a vast database that stores information about the locations of at least hundreds of millions of devices, according to the officials and the documents, which were provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. New projects created to analyze that data have provided the intelligence community with what amounts to a mass surveillance tool.

The NSA does not target Americans’ location data by design, but the agency acquires a substantial amount of information on the whereabouts of domestic cellphones “incidentally,” a legal term that connotes a foreseeable but not deliberate result.

One senior collection manager, speaking on condition of anonymity but with permission from the NSA, said “we are getting vast volumes” of location data from around the world by tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. Additionally, data is often collected from the tens of millions of Americans who travel abroad with their cellphones every year.



Read more: http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-tracking-cellphone-locations-worldwide-snowden-documents-show/2013/12/04/5492873a-5cf2-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Does that mean when I can't find it

they'll tell me not only where it is but which one I was looking for too ?

****s

[madrchsod]

2. 1,825,000,000 stored calls a year

stored 10 digit numbers per year..1,825,000,000,000

dam that`s a lot of numbers.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. It's kind of dissapointing. Not that they can do it.

This is old news, more or less for those of us that can infer their capabilities given bottomless budget and direct access to manufacturers of all types...

The disappointing thing is that they CHOOSE to do it...

[Titonwan]

4. "It's kind of dissapointing."

Kinda? You never get mad. At all? Infuriated is what a growingly aware public is becoming. I'm waiting to hear about corporate influence on our 'elected' officials and why they kow-tow to industry in a fetal position. Hopefully, Glenn Greenwald will disclose such massive corruption (h/t Edward Snowden) and finally wake up a dead brained 23% who will jump off a cliff to appease their masters. (I'm lookin' at you Tea Baggers and Middle of the Road Democrats).

[randome]

7. What law enforcement agency will NOT do everything it can to fulfill its mandate?

If we don't want the NSA to be spying on foreign individuals, quite a few laws need to be changed.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Rules are made to be broken. Including this one.[/center][/font][hr]

[Indi Guy]

14. Yours is a spurious argument...

...given that tens of millions of Americans are caught up in the cell phone dragnet alone.

From the OP:

The NSA does not target Americans’ location data by design, but the agency acquires a substantial amount of information on the whereabouts of domestic cellphones “incidentally,” a legal term that connotes a foreseeable but not deliberate result.

One senior collection manager, speaking on the condition of anonymity but with permission from the NSA, said “we are getting vast volumes” of location data from around the world by tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. Additionally, data are often collected from the tens of millions of Americans who travel abroad with their cellphones every year.

I fail to see why you continually trivialize the agency's abuse of its power visa vi American citizens. [font color="darkred"]Why do you do it?[/font]

[randome]

20. How does 'substantial amount' translate into 'tens of millions'?

This is the Information Age. Data is ridiculously easy to obtain. Do you have any idea how difficult it might be to separate foreign communications from domestic?

Neither do I but I suppose it might be something like dropping a fishing net over the side of a boat and really trying hard only to catch one species of fish. In other words, impossible.

So what would be the alternative? Never monitor foreign communications, which is the NSA's job, by the way? That's a valid option, I agree, but I would guess the purpose of monitoring foreign communications is to try and prevent incidents like the Boston Bombing. So long as there are protections in place to prevent abuse, I don't have a problem with it.

And if anyone wants to bring up the Boston Bombing as an example of the NSA's incompetence, I'd remind you that they are tasked with monitoring foreign communications and that took place entirely within our borders.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]

[Indi Guy]

25. Well, there you go again.

It's the job #1 of every government entity to obey the law visa vi our Constitution. It's an unique challenge for our government agencies & employees to do their jobs while protecting the rights of American citizens.

In a totalitarian state, there are no such proscriptions to complicate the job of surveillance -- and that is precisely how the NSA is behaving.

So don't tell me how hard it is for the NSA to obey the law -- it's their's to figure out how to do so, while doing their work.

[cantbeserious]

5. Big Brother Manifested - All To Serve The Oligarchs And Corporations

eom

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Redfairen.

[blkmusclmachine]

8. FREEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

and 9/11

[City Lights]

9. Seems like they do a lot of collecting but not a lot of analyzing. nt

typo edit

[woo me with science]

15. Collecting is the core of a criminal surveillance state.

It allows targeting of any inconvenient citizen at any time, using the data that has been stored.

Building files on citizens is the behavior of fascism.

[quadrature]

10. when there is an unsolved crime ...

they will check out cellphones that were in the
area, especially if they, turned on, turned off,
blew up, etc

[Dustlawyer]

11. K&R! I don't understand why people are not more upset with this!

[Maedhros]

13. I'm totally upset.

5 BILLION TERRORISTS A DAY are using cell phones? I never knew there were so many!

[debunkthis]

18. Many of us are

In my case "upset" doesn't quite go far enough. The term livid is a much better description of my feelings on this matter!

[Pterodactyl]

12. Wait until Obama and Biden find out about this!

[Jesus Malverde]

16. How it's done.

[DeSwiss]

17. Which shows they didn't need the REAL ID in order to track us......

...since we've ended up paying to be survelied out of our own pockets to our phone/internet providers.

- Who are then paid a premium for their cooperation by giving all our information away to the NSA, for freedom.

[jsr]

23. +1984.

[jmowreader]

19. Sorry guys...

but I'm still a hell of a lot more concerned about what the private sector, which has great in¢entive$ to track everything I do, everywhere I go, everything I buy and everything I like in both the online and physical worlds, is doing with my personal data than what the NSA might be.

Easy experiment: Go to any travel website and get a price for a plane trip to somewhere. Then go to two hotel websites and price rooms for the period of your plane trip. Then count the number of months you get spam from airlines, hotels, restaurants, attractions in the area and everything else you might need on your trip. Man, I'm still getting spam from Seattle and I got back in July!

[mitty14u2]

21. Public Support Grows for Snowden in Europe:

Germany and France Should offer NSA Whistleblower Asylum

Europeans are pissed off at the US, in the wake of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's latest revelation that the US was aggressively spying on its European allies, both at their and the European Union's embassies in Washington, and in Europe itself, gleaning not information about terrorism, but inside-track knowledge about trade negotiation positions and other areas of disagreement or negotiation.

Leaders in Germany, France, Italy and other European countries are demanding that the US cease its spying on them, and give a "full accounting" of the spying that it has been engaging in. But given the steady stream of lies coming from the NSA, the Obama Administration, Secretary of State John Kerry, and other American sources, why should they believe anything they are being told?

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Public-Support-Grows-for-S-by-Dave-Lindorff-130702-931.html

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[jsr]

22. Recommend

[Wilms]

24. ^